---
title: "Start a merchant onboarding application (public, AI-driven)"
method: POST
path: "/api/v1/onboarding/merchant/"
tags: ["onboarding"]
---

# Start a merchant onboarding application (public, AI-driven)

`POST /api/v1/onboarding/merchant/`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://partners.clickwise.net` (the document declares no server; this is the origin it was published from)
- URL: `https://partners.clickwise.net/api/v1/onboarding/merchant/`
- Auth: one of:
  - API key in cookie `sessionid`
  - API key in header `X-API-Key`
  - HTTP bearer
  - none

Frictionless start: a free-text `message` OR `company_name`/`website` is enough — the AI collects the rest (including email) conversationally via /respond/. Returns the application state + a one-time `access_secret` to authenticate follow-ups (header `X-Application-Secret`).

## Request body

- MerchantOnboardingStartRequest
  - `contact_email` string, email
  - `company_name` string
  - `website` string, uri
  - `message` string: Free-text: tell us about your store.
  - `lang` string: e.g. en, es; auto-detected if omitted.
  - `form_started_at` integer: Browser form start time in epoch milliseconds; required for anonymous browser signup.
  - `terms_accepted` boolean
  - `terms_version` string
  - `css_accepted` boolean
  - `css_version` string
  - `countries` string[]
  - `on_behalf_of` object: Full-read/API operators only: email, company and site for the third-party applicant.

## Response `201`

No response body

## Other responses

- `400`: No response body
- `409`: No response body

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/clickwise/apis/clickwise-panel-v2-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/clickwise/apis/clickwise-panel-v2-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/clickwise/apis/clickwise-panel-v2-api/revisions/19cf7671e3d8?raw)